Forecasters: Cold, More snow on the way

JANESVILLE—A winter storm that dropped 7 inches of snow on parts of Rock and Walworth counties over the weekend has passed, but people should keep their snow shovels handy through Christmas Day, forecasters say.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service say continued snowfall the next two to three days is likely as temperatures continue to fluctuate amid a set of cold and warm fronts that are set to move through southern Wisconsin Monday and Tuesday.

Brian Hahn, a meteorologist at the Sullivan office of the National Weather Service, said parts of Rock and Walworth counties could get another two or three inches of new snow before Christmas Day on Wednesday.

Hahn said forecasts call for a potential of an inch more of snow overnight on Sunday and into today. Area snowfalls are expected to taper off throughout the day today as a cold front moves in, and temperatures drop off to the single digits overnight.

But he said a Christmas Eve warm front is set to push in during the day Tuesday, with temperatures pushing back up into the mid-20s. The warmer air could bring in another 2 inches of snow Christmas Eve, Hahn said.

The continued pattern of winter precipitation, which has included freezing rain last week and the Sunday snowfall, has kept local street crews busy.

Randy Nash, a foreman in charge of snow removal for the city of Janesville's Department of Public Works, said plow crews worked 12 hours off and on Sunday to contend with the weekend snowfall.

Nash said 25 city plow and salt trucks were out over the weekend moving snow and clearing streets, along with two graders and two end-loaders.

“It's been busy,” Nash said. “Even before the weekend, we were busy out preparing for the snow, getting salt and sand down on the streets to deal with the ice pack from the (freezing) rain earlier in the week.”

Nash said plow crews on Sunday contended with cars parked illegally along city streets, even though the city had issued a snow emergency requiring people to move their cars off the streets for snow removal.

“That slows the job down,” he said.

Rock County 911 dispatcher Michelle McMahon said despite heavy snowfall early Sunday, emergency calls for crashes didn't seem to spike over the weekend.

McMahon reported the two notable accidents were a vehicle rollover north of Janesville on Sunday and a single-car crash in Janesville that took out a traffic signal.